A quality-built steel building kit provides an easy to assemble building at a very competitive price and with a long life span to boot. Steel building kits are offered in various colors and sizes in order to satisfy the specifications of the customers – both residential and commercial.
The steel building kit provides strength and structural integrity. There are many types of steel buildings available, but one of the most popular for residential and smaller commercial applications is the type with a stand-alone frame. Residential (do-it-yourself) builders seem to prefer the frame kits that consist of metal studs. The frame is built just like a traditional wood frame studded building. You can see an example of this at http://www.absoluterv.com/Garage_Frame.htm
Depending upon the size of the building, you can get these studs in 2” x 3” or 2” x 4”. This type of frame system is much easier to install for most people than is an I-beam and cable structure.
In the past, you would find that most steel buildings were assembled by attaching purlins and girts to a rigid I-Beam. This heavy I-Beam bears almost the entire load stress of the building. That's why it has to be so big and heavy, requiring a forklift or crane to assemble. Using this method, the exterior panels are most definitely a part of the structural consideration. With a building that's up to 12.5 feet in height or shorter, those exterior wall panels are usually attached to only a channel running next to and parallel to the floor and then again up at eave.
Take away the exterior panels on other buildings, and you'll find there's nothing there - no support, no stability! This is why you would hear about those "heavy duty" 26 gauge panels. Those buildings need them! While this might have been appropriate for a large structure such as a horse arena, a warehouse, or the like, this construction method was not appropriate for ma and pa homeowner trying to put this together on weekends.
For smaller buildings, most people should consider the stand-alone frame buildings. The frame systems on these steel building kits are "stand alone". This means the loads are evenly distributed throughout the frame system. You can even apply siding that’s not metal – just like you would on a traditional building frame.
What does this mean to you?
•It means you won't be dealing with large I-Beams that require forklifts or cranes.
Our heaviest single component weighs 28.65 pounds!
•It means your end walls will not have those frustrating "cross-tied cable ends" that never adjust properly. This type of building won’t be "wired" together!
•It means you'll save money on your concrete/foundation because you won't need massive 3' x 3' footings to support those isolated areas of load stress.
•It means that you can use most any exterior material you want on the outside of your building: wood, stucco, brick, stone etc. You can have your building match your house, landscape or most anything else you want!
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April 9th, 2010 | 
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